Sunday, August 28, 2011

A thought to share at the close of a week's holiday club with friends from St Luke's and St Michael's

It has been great sharing in Mission Rescue, our holiday club, telling the story of Moses.

It was moving to be doing our holiday club this week, telling the story of a people discovering freedom as we have been listening to the news from Libya. One moment encouraging, the next disturbing.

It has been a week when we have shared in concern at the illness of a young baby and one of our older members of our congregation.

Each morning the leaders gathered together for prayer and last minute planning.

Three verses we shared were verses that came back to me later in the day and in my visiting.

The place on which you are standing is holy ground – Exodus 3:5

How we each of us need to find a place where we can be ‘on holy ground’, a place to come apart and seek the presence of God.

And the people bowed down and worshipped 12-37

How we each of us need one another … faith, living the life we are called to lead, is an impossible task on our own. We need the support of one another, the support of a praying worshipping community that bows down and worships.

The last of our verses I found myself sharing with someone later in my pastoral visiting. It spoke very powerfully to me this week. It speaks very powerfully to each one of us.

Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today Exodus 14:13

Each day, we may be sure that we need not be afraid as we stand firm for we shall see the hand of God accomplishing deliverance at the point at which we need it most.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Offspring of the past, pregnant with the future, the present moment, nevertheless, always exists in eternity.

Let’s dwell on those words for a moment.

Offspring of the past, pregnant with the future, the present moment, nevertheless, always exists in eternity.

Give me a pure heart – that I may see Thee
A humble heart – that I may hear Thee,
A heart of love – that I may serve Thee,
A heart of faith – that I may abide in Thee.

Much has happened since I prepared today’s order of service.

Anticipating returning to the pulpit after a good holiday, I decided to focus on one thought from 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 2.

Now is the acceptable time
Now is the day of salvation

Now

Not yesterday

Not tomorrow.

Now

Now is the acceptable time
Now is the day of salvation

Writing letters and thoughts for a group of nuns in a convent in France more than 200 years ago, Jean-Pierre de Caussade, coined a phrase that has become a very special part of the spirituality and prayer life of many people down through the ages. It is something I find I need to come back to time and again.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could unlock the present moment and find those infinite riches beyond our wildest dreams.

For Jean Pierre de Caussade two things unlock the moment …

“The present moment holds infinite riches beyond your wildest dreams but you will only enjoy them to the extent of your faith and love. The more a soul loves, the more it longs, the more it hopes, the more it finds. The will of God is manifest in each moment, an immense ocean which only the heart fathoms insofar as it overflows with faith, trust and love..”

Offspring of the past, pregnant with the future, the present moment, nevertheless, always exists in eternity.

Give me a pure heart – that I may see Thee
A humble heart – that I may hear Thee,
A heart of love – that I may serve Thee,
A heart of faith – that I may abide in Thee.

Now is the acceptable time;
Now is the day of salvation.

Refreshed, restored, renewed by a good holiday how good it is simply to fall back into the arms of God and discover his presence in the moment that is now.

But much has happened in the three weeks we have been away.

What can we make of the rioting? What can we make of the turmoil in the world’s economy? What can we make of famine in East Africa? What can we make of the violence that continues to mar the Middle East?

I wondered about going back to the drawing board, addressing the issues in hand, offering some responses.

And then I came back to the service I had planned.

And in a strange way the words spoke to me again.

I chose to read not simply the last part of the second verse of 2 Corinthians 6. I had chosen to read the first 12 verses.

The ‘now’ Paul has in mind is a ‘now’ that for him is deeply troubled.

It is one of those rare moments in his letters that Paul writes autobiographically.

There is a remarkable grace to be found in the love of God in the now that is the present moment, even when that present moment is fraught with all kinds of horrors.

Paul’s message is very much a message of grace, it is a message that focuses on the ‘now’ that is the acceptable time, the ‘now’ that is the day of salvation. But that grace, that acceptable time, that salvation is experienced in the ‘now’ no matter what may be happening in the ‘now’.

It is in these circumstances that Paul treasures the present moment, the knowledge that God is there no matter what circumstances you find yourselves in. And what circumstances he had experienced!

In the middle of the awful things the presence of God in the present moment can seem far, far away. But it is there, to be found. For Jean-Pierre de Causade the things that unlock that present moment were faith and love …

“The present moment holds infinite riches beyond your wildest dreams but you will only enjoy them to the extent of your faith and love. The more a soul loves, the more it longs, the more it hopes, the more it finds. The will of God is manifest in each moment, an immense ocean which only the heart fathoms insofar as it overflows with faith, trust and love..”

That’s very much the thought that Paul shares. He finds that grace and so commends himself in all those awful circumstances by holding to a number of things that he lists …

Purity, in knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and left.

These are the qualities, the values, the things that we need to bring into the present moment when facing the awful things that happen in our world. These are the qualities that should mark the response we make to the things that have happened. In the North West of Wales we were a world away from what was happening on the streets – and maybe have no right to make any response. But we all do respond.

Maybe these are the things that need to shape our response and how we comment. This is the ‘moral compass’ we have to offer …

Purity, in knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and left.

Unlocking the present moment, the ‘now’ of the day of salvation, that then means that Paul finds himself empowered, enabled to live in the grace of God in spite of the circumstances that have the potential to overwhelm him …

In honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known, as dying, and see – we are alive; as punished and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

The way Paul finishes, seems to me to speak across the ages to us in the wake of all that has happened these last couple of weeks …

We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours. In return – I speak as to children – open wide your hearts also.

There is a danger in the wake of what has happened, that in our very commitment to those values and principles, we turn our back on the people involved and narrow our heart. Justice is needed. But there are people responsible we need to open wide our hearts too – so that justice can restore and renew.

Troubled times are nothing new.

Fifty years ago, the East End was gangland in London. Mods and Rockers had running battles on the streets of some of our resorts. And international troubles were very much to the fore.

The cold war raged. There were troubled places in Africa. Not least the Congo.

It was fifty years ago this week that the Secretary General of the United Nations was killed in an aeroplane crash over the Congo. There is still speculation as to whether he was the victim of an attack on his life.

After Dag Hammarskjold’s death, the manuscript of Vugmarken was found in his house in New York together the following undated letter addressed to the Swedish Permanent Under-Secretary for Foregign Affairs, Leif Belfrage.

Dear Leif:

Perhaps you may remember I once told you that, in spite of everything, I kept a diary which I wanted you to take charge of someday. Here it is.

It was begun without a thought of anybody else reading it. But, what with my later history and all that has been said and written about me, the situation has changed. These entries provide the only true ‘profile’ that can bd ddrawn. That is why, during recent years, I have reckoned with the possibility of publication, though I have continued to write for myself, not for the public.

If you find them worth publishing, you have my permission to do so – as a sort of White Book, concerning my negotiations with myself – and with God.

Dag

It was translated into English by W.H.Auden and Leif Sjoberg. Fifty years on ‘Markings’ still speaks to a troubled world.

Offspring of the past, pregnant with the future, the present moment, nevertheless, always exists in eternity – always in eternity as the point of intersection between time and the timelessness of faith, and, therefore, as the moment of freedom from past and future.

Give me a pure heart – that I may see Thee
A humble heart – that I may hear Thee,
A heart of love – that may serve Thee,
A heart of faith – that I may abide in Thee.

Now is the acceptable time
Now is the day of salvation

Offspring of the past, pregnant with the future, the present moment, nevertheless, always exists in eternity – always in eternity as the point of intersection between time and the timelessness of faith, and, therefore, as the moment of freedom from past and future.

Open wide your hearts also.

Give me a pure heart – that I may see Thee
A humble heart – that I may hear Thee,
A heart of love – that may serve Thee,
A heart of faith – that I may abide in Thee.

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